Prince of Asturias Awards 1981–2014. Speeches

8 O viedo | C ampoamor T heatre | You have worked, struggled and attained the extraordinary achievements in your respective undertakings and these have been acknowledged by the outstanding Juries, who have fulfilled their difficult undertaking in such an exacting and just way and who likewise deserve our recognition. You generously understand the soul, the anguish, and the aspirations involved in the human, historical and moral survival of your fellow man. You seek peace and union between peoples, the development of relationships among human beings. You are distinguished for your knowledge, but, even more profoundly, you are committed individuals who make an outstanding contribution to all of our individual and social lives. When we reflect on all of this, we feel the profound sensation of gratitude that we can only express with kind, affectionate, and simple words: thank you. Asturias —which is to say Spain in its fundamental being, in its primary and eternal core— has understood how to esteem this surrendering of your humanistic and scientific vocation for the common good. The ideal locus of understanding for work and its discipline, its fatigues, its resemblance to a divine mission, is to be found here. Asturias is a community that is synonymous with work, that sings and cries, lives and dies for work. For this reason, all of the Asturians who are represented in today’s ceremony feel honoured for having melded themselves into the granting of the Awards you have just received, and for having enjoyed your company or your memory, not only at this moment, but also for the rest of your lives. Because no matter where you are, Asturias will, time and time again, ensure that its noble and clear message of appreciation gets through to you. Through your labour, Spain moves forward and the world can envision horizons of peace, a peace which is so badly needed. A peace which we seek for our homeland, for our fellow nations on the American continent, for every country in the world. Coming after you is a new generation of researchers, writers, artists and technicians, individuals of good faith who are concerned about how they can resolve international problems with justice, and who will follow the outstanding course of your lives. Wemust not forget the opinion of a famous writer when he said that “in reality, there is no history. Everything comes down to biography.” In this process of generational substitution, of the accumulation of biographies of outstanding individuals, we must all collaborate very closely so that Spain keeps pace with the world’s nations. Thank you on behalf of The Prince of Asturias. Thank you in the name of Asturias, for the labour for which you have been deservedly honoured. To the Award’s sheer physical presence, you may add the affection and gratitude of all the Asturian people and of Spain as a whole. And also an expression of thanks to the Prince of Asturias Foundation, which has created these Awards and has afforded them distinction and character. These are Awards which, after spreading the seeds of their importance, reputation and prestige throughout the world, will surely allow an effective and abundant harvest to be reaped, to the benefit of Asturias and the Asturian people. Of the Asturian people, I ask that you increasingly love your region, this region to which my son, The Prince of Asturias, feels so attached. Think of it and work for it, united in enthusiasm and hope. Feel proud of your green fields, your imposing mountains, your bold sea, your mists that act like a softening filter on the countryside. Feel increasingly Asturian because this is the way to become increasingly better Spaniards. I ask of you, the men and women of the Principality of Asturias, and I ask of all those in every part of our nation, to be concerned and long for the ancestral lands where they were born, for the upkeep of their history, for their customs and traditions, for peace and the progress of their communities, for the culture of their inhabitants. Because as soon as they add their love to the love of the rest, they boldly add to the growth of love for Spain, rather than fragmenting and weakening themselves. 16 th O ctober 1984